Sufficiently Vulnerable
by ad-siderum
Summary: "Not now," Percy hissed. "We have to keep moving. There might be more." "More what?" "Monsters."
1. Chapter 1

**Sufficiently Vulnerable**

**A/N: **This was intended to be just a short drabble, but I guess I got a little carried away with myself :3 I'm guessing that this will turn out to be a few chapters long by the time I'm done with it. Let me know what you thought and enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **Δεν έχουν στην ιδιοκτησία τους αυτά τα βιβλία ή τους χαρακτήρες τους? Δεν μου κάνει μήνυση!

**Chapter I**

There are some days that I hate living alone with my dad but these times where we gather in front of our basement TV with our bowl of popcorn and for hours join the Enterprise in exploring the final frontier are those that I always cherish. Despite the troubles that we have both encountered, he has always remained there to support me, even if he sometimes needs a little help from Jim Kirk. Still, science fiction doesn't make words any easier to read or fix my tendency to be a little more than slightly socially awkward.

I am jolted from my daydreaming as I begin to feel the smoldering of the limelight fall on me and gaze of every one of my classmates fall on me one by one. Unconsciously, I slump down a bit farther in my chair and rest my chin in my hand.

"What was that?" I ask my teacher. I can feel my face getting almost unbearably hot as redness invades it much too quickly.

"Alethia, it's your turn to read," my teacher says. I look down at the open book that lies on my desk. The words seem to swim before my eyes and I do not recognize which has been read and which does not.

"Where do I start?" My voice sounds wimpy and too quiet. It's a miracle that anyone besides me could hear it at all.

"The section underneath 'Federalist Grievances and the Hartford Convention'," he says. His words are tense and I only feel more pressure put on me to be a better student.

My heart beats wildly and my head feels unsteady so I keep my hands underneath my chin to keep it from shaking. I take a deep breath in and release it, focusing all of my attention on those black white words on their two dimensional page. They don't intimidate me. I can do this.

"D-Defiant New England remain-remained a problem." My words come slowly and I am forced to take a hand away from my chin to trace it along the line I was reading. "It prospered daring the conflict, owning largely to illogic trade with the anemone in Canada and to the absent of a British blade until 1814." I hear the snickers of a few of my classmates and know that I have missed a few words. I take another deep breath, but nothing can calm my pounding heartbeat now. "But the membered opposition of the Federalists to the raw continued untabbed.*" I close my eyes and wish that I was invisible, praying that my reading wasn't as horrible as I expected.

A half an hour later, when the bell ring, I leapt from my seat and was the first out of the classroom. I couldn't wait to get out of that hell-hole. I stopped at my locker and deposited my American Government books and replaced them with new books for English. I was out of the fire and into the frying pan, it would seem. Wanting to postpone entering that classroom, I pretended to rearrange my extra pens in my locker. Next to me, a shoulder slammed into the row of lockers and I looked up, giving a faint smile at the newcomer before returning to my pens.

"Alethia," he says and I look up again, meeting his sea-blue eyes. He leans against the locker next to mine and smiles down at me.

"You're Percy, aren't you?" I ask. He had just moved to my school a few days ago and I had yet to talk to him.

Percy nods. "You often have trouble with reading, do you?" he asks. I slam my locker shut, not caring whether it hits him or not.

"Yes," I snap. "Why does that matter?"

Percy's head snaps up and his long hair narrowly misses getting caught in my locker's door. He shakes his head. "I'm sorry. I didn't know that would offend you so much."

"Offend me?" I scoffed. I could hardly keep myself from breaking apart.

"I just wanted to let you know that you're not alone," Percy says and then walks away, leaving me to only gape at him in wonder. I brush a strand of my long dark brown hair out of my grey eyes. He couldn't be going through the same thing I was. There was no way. Everything about him shone with confidence, even in the classroom. That's not something that I thought a dyslexic kid like me could ever possess.

After English was finished, I hurried back to my locker and twisted the lock. As the door sprang open, a large hardcover book slid off from the top shelf and onto the floor before me. I leaned over to pick it up. A sticky note had been stuck onto the cover and a message was scrawled on it.

"Is this book better to understand?" I read. A little snort escapes from my nose. Percy. It had to be. Never the less, I tuck my book underneath my arm and begin my trek to the town's library. It was a habit of mine to go there to study each day after school when the weather permitted. There was something soothing about being surrounded by all those books and the building's quiet atmosphere. It's a shame how much I love my books but yet how unqualified I am to read them.

I sit down at my usual table amongst the science fiction and fantasy section and start thumbing through the book. My forehead wrinkles as I study the unfamiliar characters inside. How dumb was I to fall for a prank like that? Thumbing through the book, I stop to look at the pictures. For me, they were interesting enough and I began to take a liking to it. There was no way Percy was getting his book back now.

I took notice of a picture of a large man with a bushy beard. From his place up on top of the clouds in the sky, I saw bolts of lightning emanating from the air around him. "Zeus," I whisper to myself. This was a book on the Greek gods. Sure enough, as I read the caption below, my thoughts were verified. My hands jerk up from the page in surprise. I wasn't supposed to be able to read that. A moment ago, I could have sworn that the text was in a foreign language. I flip back to the cover of the book and to my surprise, the foreign letters seemed to rearrange in my brain into a language that I could understand.

I shoved the book back into my backpack and took out my homework. That book was too weird. It was going back to Percy tomorrow, even if it did have interesting pictures. I started in on my math homework, but no matter how hard I tried to concentrate, my attention kept traveling back to that mysterious book. Hardly able to control my curiosity, I took the book back out of my backpack again. It wouldn't hurt to read just one page, so I flipped it open to the beginning. Unlike anything else that I had read, the words came fluently and I was able to go through it without hesitation. One page turned into another and I lost my ability to distinguish the difference between the chapters. I was so captivated by the book that I lost track of time and it wasn't until 9:00 when I finally looked up from it again.

"Excuse me," one of the librarians said. "We're about to close, so could you pack of for the night?"

I looked up at her in confusion. Surely I hadn't been reading for that long. I checked the clock on the wall, confirming my fear.

"Yes, of course," I said still slightly shocked. I promised my father that I would be home for dinner. The thought of food set my stomach growling.

"Lost track of time at the library and will be home soon, don't worry," I texted to my dad as I left the building. It was dark out on the street and I was thankful for the streetlights that lined the road and the sidewalk. I put my headphones to my ears and hummed along to each song.

A few blocks from the library, the street lights began to flicker before going out and I was plunged into darkness. I kept walking ahead, though I could hardly see my own hands in front of my face. It was a cloudy night so there were no stars or a moon to help guide my way. My song ended and in the moment of silence before the next song, I heard a rattling in the bushes. _It must have been the wind_, I told myself, but I couldn't convince myself that easily. I shiver ran up my spine and I got the feeling that something was watching me. I had gotten the same feeling when my school's janitor had grown an extra head and an extra set of arms. His mop had turned into a spear and I had almost died that day in the school basement, but no one would believe me, of course. I had learned to always trust my feelings since then, so I broke into a fevered run.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter II**

My feet pounded against the sidewalk as I bolted away. Something reached out from the darkness, scratching my ankles and I picked my feet up higher, but the thing reached higher, wrapping around my foot. I fell face first onto the sidewalk and barely had time to block my fall with my hands. I flipped around and yanked at whatever was wrapped around me. Its texture was familiar as I tried in vain to break it off. The bushes had come alive. Branches grabbed my hands and bound them together. I screamed at the top of my lungs, hoping that someone might hear me. I continued to thrash around, trying to shake off the branches that continued to grab at me. They wrapped around my middle and threatened to smother me as they covered my mouth. Slowly, I felt myself being dragged from the sidewalk and into the bushes. Faintly, I heard footsteps behind me and the branches recoiled from me all at once. I scrabbled out from the bushes and stood up to see Percy standing above me with a sword in hand.

"Did-did you just save me?" I asked incredulously.

Percy just shrugged. "I guess you could say that."

I reached for my backpack and began to open it. "Were you the one who gave me the book?"

"Not now," Percy hissed. "We have to keep moving. There might be more."

"More what?"

"Monsters."

I almost stopped in my tracks. "So I'm not going crazy?" I asked for confirmation.

Percy chuckled. "No you're not. They come for me too. You and me; we're alike."

"So we're both dyslexic and mentally insane. What else?"

"Did you get a chance to read the book that I gave you?"

"Yes," I said. "It was… weird."

"It's written in Greek," Percy said.

"How was I able to read it?"

"Your brain, like mine, is hard-wired to read Greek instead of English. That's why you test as being dyslexic."

The next street over was lit, but the lights started to flicker. "They're coming," Percy said and we both broke into a run.

"My house is the next block over," I pant. "We'll be save there."

Percy shook his head. "The only place you're safe is Camp Half-Blood."

"Camp what?"

"It's… uh, a place for people like you and me."

I burst through my back door and as soon as Percy was through, I locked it shut. "Dad?" I shout through the house. Hearing the panic in my voice, he rushes down the stairs.

"What is it, sweetie?" he asks.

"Dad, remember when I told everyone how the janitor with two heads had tried to attack me a few years ago?"

He nodded. "Clearly."

"The bushes attacked me while I was walking home," I stated. I hadn't imagined how insane that sounded until the words had already left me mouth. "Percy here saved me."

My Dad finally noticed Percy and walked over to him, extending a hand. "Mr. Heiland. Thank you for rescuing my daughter."

Percy took his hand and shook it. "Percy Jackson. It's a pleasure meeting you, Mr. Heiland, but Alethia is in grave danger here. What do you know about Camp Half-Blood?"

My dad's face fell. "Is it really that bad?"

"Worse than you could imagine," Percy replied.

"What's going on?" I asked. They seemed like they were talking in some kind of secret code. Whatever it was, I knew that I needed to be let in on it.

My Dad turned to me. "Alethia, you need to go to that camp. I can't follow you there, but you will be safe."

I turned to my dad and threw my arms around him. "I can't go without you!"

"You have to. Be strong Alethia."

"I don't understand. Why is this all happening to me?"

My father sighed. "Your mother."

Percy ran back into the room in a panic. "We need to go now! I'll explain more later on, Alethia." He spun me around and started to push me out the door. "It was nice meeting you, Mr. Heiland."

"Alethia!" my Dad called and I turned around to catch the car keys that he threw at me. "Drive safely. I love you. Call me when you get there."

"I love you too!" I called as I ran out of the house and to the garage.

"Have you seen any movies with car chases?" Percy asks me.

"Yes," I answer, getting into the car.

"Good. Now I need you to drive like you are in the getaway car. Stop for nothing and floor it."

I nod and stick the keys in the ignition. Switching the car out of park and into drive, I press down onto the gas pedal as hard as I can and we speed out of the garage and down the driveway. I am not prepared for what I met at the bottom of my driveway. With all of the monsters milling about in our front lawn, it could have been Halloween, only much more dangerous.

"Don't stop!" Percy yells. "Go, go, go!"

My blood fills with adrenaline and I can feel each heartbeat pump strong and steady. I know what I have to do and how to do it. My escape plan is set. With all the action movies my Dad and I watch, I feel like I have been training for this moment my entire life. I weave between the monsters, each one narrowly missing the car. My hands rapidly turn the wheel hand-over-hand in a blur of motion.

"Watch out!" Percy yells. I look up through the sun roof and see one of the monsters holding on to the racks on the top of the car.

"Hold on," I instruct, only giving Percy a moment's notice before I slam on the breaks. The lack of forward motion throws the monster off the roof and I steer clear of its body before continuing on my way. My eyes are focused on the road and I am prepared to react instantly if any of those monsters were to cross our path again. It's not until I follow Percy's directions to merge onto the expressway that I finally relax. I can't help but let a grin overwhelm my face.

"That was unreal," I say. I can't help but feel like the heroine from some action movie.

"Great driving, newbie," Percy praises, "but don't think this is all over quite yet."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter III**

An hour into our road trip, I can't help but ask the most annoying car question ever. "Are we there yet?"

Percy stretches in his seat. "Yeah, only about fifteen more minutes."

"What happens when we get there?" I ask.

"You'll get claimed by your parent."

Percy had told me earlier about the identity of my mother or rather, the lack of.

"So, she could be Hera…"

Percy cuts me off. "Hera has no children and never will."

"Okay, then just Demeter, Athena, Artemis, or Aphrodite. Am I missing any?"

"She could be one of the minor gods," he said.

"Which cabin would I stay in then?" I asked.

"Most stay with Hermes, but it's getting pretty crowded over there. I'm the only one in my cabin, so you could stay with me."

"Thanks for the offer."

I merge off the highway at exit 42 and Percy directs me down a small dirt road.

"This camp is very… out of the way," I say as I am bounced up and down in my seat by the potholes in the road.

"It has to be if we were to keep the regular mortals safely away."

I almost jumped out of my seat as I heard a loud thump on the roof.

"We're under attack! Go faster!" Percy urged and I floored the acceleration. Judging by the noise coming from the roof of the car, I was not able to shake off this new beast. With a ripping sound, a scorpion's stinger penetrated through the car's roof. Percy turned to look at me. "Manticore," he said with wide eyes.

"A what?" I asked. The stinger pulled out of the roof and poked through again, nearer to us.

"Pull over. Now," Percy said.

"Can we outrun this thing?"

"No, but I can distract it."

I sighed and the stinger landed precariously close to me. I veered off the road and flung the car door open. Percy uncapped his pen and he ran at the beast. He stabbed it, but the Manticore refused to slow down in its attack. The injury only seemed to make it angrier.

"Percy!" I shouted. "We have to go! Now!" He dropped his sword to his side and we both started with a hard sprint towards the hill that loomed in front of us.

"The camp – the camp; it's at the top of that hill," Percy gasped. Even though the adrenaline that coursed through me gave me extra energy, it wasn't enough for me to keep up with Percy who was quite obviously more in shape than I was. My feet dragged and a stitch was growing in my side, but I kept pressing on. I would be safe at the camp.

With only a few feet left, the Manticore jumped in front of me. Startled, I slipped on the grass. The beast whipped the scorpion's stinger which was attached to its tail at me and I rolled to the side.

"Percy!" I shrieked. He wheeled around and came to my aid, battling with the Manticore. I felt a trickling down my arm and I peeled my sleeve off of my skin. I had been stung. The beast had only grazed me, but I could see the lines in the world beginning to double.

"Get into camp," Percy shouted over the roars of the Manticore. "Call for help. I can't handle this beast on my own for much longer."

I mumbled a reply and began to stand up. The ground before me swayed and I fell over.

"Go, Alethia!" He cried. The desperation in his voice only made me more determined. He had got me this far and had saved my life more than once. I couldn't let Percy down now. I tried to stand up once more but again, I fell over. The dizziness only grew worse and worse. If I couldn't run there, I would have to crawl. I placed one hand in front of the other along with my knees in sync. I had to make it; for Percy. I crawled through the camp's boundaries and shouted for help. I kept crawling. What if no one had heard me?

"Percy's in trouble," I cried. "Help him."

"Help him." Those words rang repeated through my head as a loud buzzing filled my ears. Black spots covered my vision of the camp and I crumpled to the ground.

The next thing I knew, a bright, searing light penetrates through my eyelids. I force them open and squint painfully until my eyes adjust to the conditions. Every part of me aches as I survey the room that I am in. I lay on a bed in the middle of a room that seems to be inside a wooden cabin. My injured shoulder is bound in a sling and hurts as I shift my weight.

"So you're awake. Finally." I turn to see the face to which the voice belongs to.

"Percy," I say. "You're alright. The Manticore…?"

"I'm fine, but I can't say the same thing about the beast. Let's say it won't be bothering anybody anymore."

I smile. "How long was I out?"

"A little more than a week."

I was not prepared for that answer. I knew that I had passed out, but not for long. "Where am I?"

"Camp Half-Blood," Percy said. "Welcome home, Alethia."


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: **Sorry for the long wait. I hadn't been intending on continuing this, but here it is. I haven't read the Percy Jackson books in many, many years so I apologize if I have gotten anything wrong. Feel free to correct me if that does happen. Anyway, please review and I hope you guys enjoy! :)

* * *

**Chapter IV**

Even though I was thankful to get back on my feet, I wished that I could have had another day to relax in the camp's health lodge. Compared to the Hermes cabin, it had been silent and roomy. I would have given almost anything to be back there and to escape all this clutter. I didn't understand why empty cabins like Zeus and Hades remained empty while the Hermes cabin was just about overflowing with people and their belongings. Not only was it over capacity, but the other campers that I shared this cabin with were a rowdy bunch. Multiple times this evening, I had been splashed with water, fallen on, and had acted as a landing platform for various items, none of which were very soft.

The air began to grow stuffy around the bottom bunk where I had been laying on a sleeping bag, I had been trying to sleep for the past hour, but soon abandoned the idea; it would be impossible until my cabin mates had calmed down. Why hadn't Mr. D let me stay with Percy? From what I had been told, there was more than enough room in his cabin, especially since he was the only camper who lived there. Apparently there were strict "camp procedures" that Mr. D needed to follow. I usually didn't mind rules, but not when they caused me to lose sleep.

A pillow sailed across the room and hit me in the face.

"Not again," I groaned to myself, and flung it across the room, not caring where it landed.

"Pillow fight!" somebody called and the entire cabin joined in.

That was it. I grabbed my sleeping bag and Greek mythology book from my backpack at my bedside and dodging pillows, I made my way to the door. Immersed in their battle, no one noticed my exit. Outside I could still hear the commotion, but once the door was shut, the sound was deadened.

I spread my sleeping bag out on the grass, thankful for the warm spring night. With the light that spilled out through the cabin windows, I was still able to make out the letters on the book's pages. My head was filled with tales of heroes, prophesies, and the gods. It was a hard book to put down, so I did not.

* * *

I felt my shoulder being jostled and I was brought to consciousness.

"Alethia? Earth to Alethia."

I groaned and flopped over in my sleeping bag. "What?" I demanded.

"It's time to get up." Through the blinding morning sun, I made out the shape of Percy's head.

"Why are you here? What are you doing?" I slurred.

"You're the one who's sleeping outside," Percy countered.

I sat up and rubbed my neck which was still sore from the ground and my book that I had used unintentionally as a pillow. I must have fallen asleep while reading.

"It was too stuffy in the cabin," I explained. Deciding to sleep under the stars was turning out to be a decision that kept getting worse. Not only was I sure that I looked frightful with my bed hair, but the pages of my book were soggy with dew as well.

Percy shrugged. "I was just coming to show you where you can get some breakfast before we start with your training."

"Training? What for?" I asked.

"You didn't think we wouldn't teach you how to defend yourself, did you?" Percy teased. I supposed it was normal for campers here to learn combat. I, on the other hand, did not think so or even want to learn.

"I can't fight," I protested.

"That's what the training is for."

"No, I am incapable of fighting."

"Why? You aren't still feeling sick from your wound?"

"I can't kill anything. I can't even squish bugs when I find them inside my house." My house. A twinge of homesickness coursed through me.

"You sure killed a few monsters with your car last week."

I grimaced at the memory. "That was different."

"How so?"

"I- I… It was self-defense," I sputtered.

"Alethia. That's exactly what the training is for. We're not trying to turn you into a cold-blooded killer."

I sighed. "Alright. I'll try training." I threw my hands up in defeat and climbed out of my sleeping bag.

"Go get ready," Percy said. "I'll wait for you, but only if you won't keep me waiting for too long."

I laughed. "I won't take too long. I promise." I gathered up my sleeping bag and headed back into the cabin. Thankfully, the cabin was almost deserted, so I didn't have to deal with too many of my crazy cabin mates. I tied up my hair attempting to make it look neater and not like I had forgotten my hair brush. There wasn't a mirror in the cabin, so I wasn't so sure how well my plan worked.

Slightly less sleepy, I ran out of the cabin in what seemed to be record time by my standards. I thought that Percy had been only teasing me when he said that he would leave me behind, but I was apprehensive to put him to the test. I hated the idea of having to roam around camp by myself, probably getting myself helplessly lost as well. Thankfully, Percy was still waiting near the cabin.

"Off to breakfast, then?"

I nodded and walked with him as he led the way.

* * *

The clatter of the dining hall grew to a loud roar as soon as I opened the large doors. Campers of all ages were gathered around tables that were scattered throughout the room. I froze for a moment, taking it all in. I was more than grateful when Percy dragged me out of my stupor and led the way, weaving between the tables until he approached one and sat down. Following suit, I sat down in between him and a girl with wavy blonde hair.

"The newbie's awake!" The girl exclaimed.

Percy nodded. "Everybody, meet Alethia. Alethia, meet Annabeth and Grover." I waved to the two of them.

"Hi," I squeaked. I wasn't sure if they could hear me, so I smiled at them too, hoping to pass as being friendly.

"I'm a daughter of Athena and Grover is a satyr," Annabeth said.

"A satyr?" I remembered reading about them in my book last night. "Is it true that your legs are goats?"

Grover's face lit up. "Yeah! Want to see?"

"Sure," I said uncertainly. "If you don't mind, that is."

Grover laughed. "Of course I don't mind! It's not every day that a girl asks to look at my legs."

I could feel my face turn red and I regretted ever asking him.

"Relax, newbie," Annabeth whispered to me. "He's only messing with you."

I tried to smile back at her, but was sure that it only appeared too strained.

Grover lifted his foot onto the table and pushed back his pant leg. It was true; his leg was that of a goats. Instead of a foot, he had a hoof and his leg was lined with fur.

"Cool," I squeaked and Grover put his leg back under the table.

The conversation returned to what it had been before Percy and I joined. It appeared as if they were debating the meaning of some riddle.

"Truth and her bringer will be the only ones who can uncover it," Annabeth repeated over and over again. "This makes no sense. What does 'it' refer to? How do we know when the truth arrives?"

"The truth has got to be something big since the Oracle took the time to tell us about it. My guess is that we'll know it when we hear it," Percy said.

"That still doesn't give us any clues about what the truth is or what 'it' is," Annabeth said, resting her forehead against her hand.

"Could you repeat the prophecy again?" I asked.

"Truth and her bringer will be the only ones who can uncover it," Percy said.

"Would it make sense for 'it' to be the truth?" I suggested.

"Truth and her bringer will be the only ones who can uncover the truth," Annabeth mused. "It fits, but so does just about everything else. 'It' could really be anything."

"It seems too simple. Everyone who brings truth also uncovers it. We don't need a prophecy to figure that out," Percy added.

I ran through the words once more in my head, but they seemed to make no sense.

Percy slammed his hands down on the table. "I give up," he announced.

Annabeth smiled jokingly at Percy. "So, Seaweed Brain. You have been out of camp recently. Tell me which _mysterious_ truths you have brought back with you."

Percy laughed. "All I've brought back to camp is Alethia here." A mischievous glint appeared in his eyes. "Which is more than I can say for you, Wise Girl."

Annabeth's smile fell from his face and Percy grinned in victory.

"Your name; Alethia," Annabeth started slowly. "It means truth in Greek."

Grover seemed to jump straight out of his seat and scampered away, weaving between the chairs. "I have to tell Mr. D," he shouted back at us.

I knew what Annabeth was suggesting, but I didn't like it one bit. I couldn't have a prophecy about me. I was nobody. Not a single person here could have possibly known about me before I arrived. I was certain that they had the wrong girl.


End file.
